Washington, DC sales - Page 29

Filene's at Mazza is cleaned out. I mean, seriously. The registers at the street level entrance/exit are gone, most of the merchandise is gone, and they've redone the fixtures to hold, it appears, much less merchandise.

I asked someone what was up and he said they were under new ownership and were awaiting a shipment. I didn't think to actually ask when that would be.

Anyone got any more info on it?

As to the current stock, it's all the same stuff, except they have a small rack of bow-ties again--I bought one of the only two nice ones. Sorry. I'm sure you're all broken up about that.

b

I asked if they were closing and she said no just waiting for a new shipment.

The 'new ownership' is Mens Wearhouse so with the next shipment, it will become an outlet for MW merchandise.

No, no, no, this cannot be right. Please tell me you're kidding.

b

Last I heard this deal fell through. Is this not the case?

Syms and Vornado Realty won the bid for Filene's. Men's Wearhouse dropped its original winning bid after it had been contested in court.

Aha, I'd be happy with SYMS. I've always had better luck with their suits than in FB. Any word on whether the current FBs will be converted into SYMs stores, or will keep the name? How about sourcing of goods?

b

Oh - THANK GOD.

I have no actual information on what will happen with Filene's, so take this post with a grain of salt. However, I don't think a new owner will necessarily mean a complete shift in the type of store or its inventory. Being bought by Men's Wearhouse or Syms doesn't mean the store is changing into a Men's Wearhouse or Syms. For instance, Jones Apparel Group used to own Barneys. Most of that company's brands are pretty downmarket, but it maintained Barneys as an upscale store. I'd imagine Filene's will remain relatively the same, probably with a few less locations.

Was over at both Loehmann's and Filenes Basement in Mazza Galleria. In a word: nothing. Loehmann's has that very small corner of men's stuff upstairs. There was a small island rack of Theory suit separates that looked ok, but sizes were limited. All in light fabrics. Coats were $199 and the pants $99. Had a long rack of jeans. Examples: Bufalo jeans at $49 before a 30% discount (yello tagged).

FB had all men's suits at 25% off, but didn't see anything I liked. Noticed some Hickey Freeman suits that were NOT limited (Ltd). Usually all they have is Ltd. They were $599 b4 discount. Plenty of Emegildo Zegna too. I think they were also $599. That's not my fave, so I passed. As for the Vault stuff, there was a small island rack of Armani primarily coats. Like $699 for a sportcoat. Armani is not my thing but I thought I'd report. The only thing in the store that looked like a deal were these colorful vineyard vines swim trunks with colorful patterns. However, they were only in XL and up. Maybe the smaller sizes ran out b/c they were priced at $9.99.

I'm surprised that with this recession we haven't seen more discounts.

Some nice stuff at the Filene's Basement on Connecticut Avenue.... a lot of nice pieces upstairs on the left - a 100% cashmere grey Sartoria Partenopea Napoli sportcoat, and a Borrelli tuxedo with working buttonholes...

I was just thinking of asking if anyone had seen anything good lately. I might head to FB tomorrow and maybe SYMS as well. Though they're in opposite directions so that could take too long.

b

the filenes basement on connecticut recently had a large quantity of oxxford suits in solid colors and patterns, and they had a boatload of brioni ties in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

also, the entire "vault" selection was an additional 60% off and the suits were an additional 25% off. a stackable 20% off additional coupon can be obtained on their website as well.

the combination of these discounts led me to a purchase of an oxxford staple solid navy for $700 or so. i haven't been there since the heavy christmas buying season began, so i can't guarantee stock, but it may be worth a look if you are in the area.

Just wondering if anyone has been to Tyson's Galleria yet. I remember last year, Zegna had quite a bit of shoes in the 70% area. Not sure if they're going that deep again.

I was at Tyson's Galleria last Saturday (12/26). I went to Zegna, and saw at most 30% off, nothing like last year. Saks did have a decent sale going until noon that day (half off sale prices), but I don't know what the sale is looking like now.